Walkout by teachers causes huge headache for parents

Teachers marched through the centre of London today as their one-day national strike - the first for 21 years - affected more than 1,000 of the capital's schools.

The march - estimated to be 10,000-strong - brought traffic to a standstill as the teachers headed for a rally at Westminster Central Hall via Trafalgar and Parliament squares.

The one-day walkout by the National Union of Teachers is aimed at forcing the Government to improve its pay offer of 2.45 per cent - but it created a massive childcare headache for working parents.

Figures from 29 of the 33 London boroughs showed that 579 schools were closed today, while 490 were forced to cancel classes for some pupils.

A survey by the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations showed that only a third of parents backed the NUT's demand for a pay increase of 4.1 per cent, which the union said would keep teachers' pay abreast of rising inflation.

NCPTA chief executive David Butler said: "It is also clear that many parents have had to make complex plans to overcome difficulties caused by the strike, including alternative childcare arrangements."

Tory leader David Cameron today warned the striking teachers they were damaging their reputation. Speaking on LBC Radio, he said: "Teachers I don't believe should strike. I want people to look up to teachers and see them alongside GPs and others as great public-servants." He revealed his disabled son Ivan was not going to school today because of the industrial action.

The British Chambers of Commerce warned that firms across the country faced losing up to £68 million because of parents taking time off work or to pay for extra childcare.

Colleges were also disrupted as lecturers belonging to the University and College Union staged a walk-out over their demand for equal pay with school teachers. Other public sector strikes meant 400,000 state employees were not turning up for work today.

NUT acting general secretary Christine Blower said the strike was a last resort. "Teacher shortages, excessive workload and falling morale are damaging our education system," she added.

Leaders of the NUT were joined in London by other union chiefs, including the president of the National Union of Students, Gemma Tumelty, and TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

Ms Blower said: "We expect the strike to be well supported, even where schools only have a few NUT members. During the week we have been receiving reports that more of our members were deciding to join the strike."

She admitted teachers' pay was substantially above where it was in 1997 but said a series of below-inflation awards had sent this into "reverse".

Ms Blower said: "We are in a downward spiral and recruitment is now showing a serious downturn." University and College Union president Sally Hunt said its own action was completely justified. "Working life in our colleges is getting worse," she said.

"You can measure this in crude statistics - college incomes have increased by over 17 per cent over the last six years, and college principals have given themselves nice pay rises. But colleges are paying less of this growing income on staff. Frontline teaching staff are seeing nothing for their efforts."

As Liberal Democrats called for a no-strike agreement for classroom teachers, Schools Secretary Ed Balls told the Evening Standard: "Most teachers don't want a strike and didn't vote for one ... only a quarter of NUT members voted to walk out - that's just one in 10 of all teachers." London NUT member Gerald Clark, 33, said he had been forced to take a pay cut equivalent to about £800 after three years of below-inflation awards.